82-Year-Old Florissant Man To Compete In Track Races This Weekend

While most people will enjoy sleeping in during this holiday weekend, 82-year-old Joseph Bell will be racing around a track for his 28th year participating in the St. Louis Senior Olympics. He is entered in the 400 meter, 800 meter and 1500-meter races.

“These are the races I’m most competitive in,” Bell said. “I started competing when I turned 55 because I was interested in running, and I like the competition.”

Outside of his time in the Navy and graduate school, Bell has lived and worked in this area his whole life.

He grew up in North St. Louis and attended McBride High School. Bell graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering and received master’s and doctorate degrees in the field from Northwestern University. He worked at and retired from McDonnell Douglas, now Boeing, after close to 40 years.

Bell has lived in Florissant for the past 46 years and takes advantage of one of its natural resources.

“I do most of my running in Sioux Passage Park,” he said. “It’s close to home, and it’s a pretty place to run. I can run on the grass and run down to the Missouri River.”

To get ready for competitions, Bell runs on a track at least once a week. He competes in year-round road races with the St. Louis Track Club.

“A good average is running a race every other week throughout the year,” Bell said.

Bell holds several track records from his years competing in the local Senior Olympics and has qualified several times to compete in the national games. He doesn’t see age as a limiting factor in what he does and thinks there’s something for everyone to do to stay active.

“I realize I’ve been very blessed to continue doing what I do,” Bell said. “As time goes on, I am getting slower, but I don’t have squeaky bones or bad muscles.”